Wilburn Alvin Yates

Funeral: 2 p.m. Thursday at Shady Oaks Baptist Church, 1336 Cavender Drive, Hurst. Interment: Bluebonnet Hills Memorial Park. Visitation: 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Bluebonnet Hills Funeral Home.

Memorials: The family suggests that any donations be made to Shady Oaks Baptist Church missions or a charity of choice.

Al was born in Farmersville on Dec. 12, 1918, to William Arthur and Dewey Oma Robbins Yates. He was an only child. The family moved to Dallas when he was 6. After graduating from Adamson High School, he attended SMU where he graduated in 1941 with a degree in psychology and German.

He was making his first solo cross-country flight working toward his private pilot's license on Dec. 7, 1941. After landing at Redbird Airport and noticing no one was outside, he tied down the airplane and walked inside the hangar to hear President Roosevelt describing the bombing of Pearl Harbor as "a date which shall live in infamy." Alvin and his best friend enlisted in the Army Air Corps the following day.

After serving in various locations, including Fort Worth and Florida, he controlled air traffic in the Aleutian Islands, Alaska. In 1944, he married Beverly Fay Poole and they celebrated life together until her death in 1990. His military training led him to a long career in air traffic control and he retired as a supervisor at the Fort Worth center. He continued his aviation career as a flight instructor and FAA designee giving many pilots their check rides to get the ATP ratings to fly for American and other airlines.

In 1976 he and fellow pilot Bob Phoenix set a Guinness world record for most takeoffs and landings at different airports. When that record was broken, they set out to regain it in 1979. That record still stands today: 193 different airports in one day.

In 1993, Al married Lou Cannon Hubbard and celebrated with their blended families for over 20 years. Al enrolled in a class in the early 1990s and became "Professor Owl" the clown. He continued entertaining at hospitals and nursing homes even after he was limited to a walker and sometimes a wheelchair. Professor Owl greeted soldiers returning from Iraq to Dallas-Fort Worth Airport at every opportunity.

When he could no longer fly special-needs children for Challenge Air, Capt. Al donned his Professor Owl clown persona and entertained the children while waiting for their first airplane ride. For his giving of himself so generously, among his many honors, he was named Volunteer of the Year in 2013 for North Hills Hospital. Even on his last visit to the hospital, his doctor's notation in his chart described him as "A pleasant 96-year-old gentleman." His last acts of service were sharing jokes, riddles, love and gratitude to the nurses, aides, volunteers and doctors at North Hills Hospital.

Survivors: Wife, Lou Yates; his daughter, Beverly Sanders and husband, David, of Aubrey; son, Charles Yates and Mary of North Richland Hills; Kathi Long and Rick of Coppell; Chip Hubbard and Paula of Houston; nine grandchildren; and 11 great-grandchildren.

Arrangements under the direction of Bluebonnet Hills Funeral Home, COLLEYVILLE, TX.